Mayor Jerry Morales confirmed at the annual “Tall City Tomorrow” presentation that the City Council will vote later this month on having a May election to decide the future of the 4B tax.

Currently, the 4B tax pays for the debt incurred to build the Scharbauer Sports Complex. The council also has used 4B funds for maintenance and operations to keep it a “first-class” sports complex, which it would continue to be used for if repurposed, Morales said. The quarter-cent addition to the sales tax will expire at the end of the year unless voters choose to repurpose it, Morales said.

If the council creates a May ballot item, Morales said the city will campaign to spread information about how the funds would be used.

He said that some ideas for the tax could be initiatives that certificates of obligation typically fund, such as parks or roads.

Sales tax inside the city of Midland is 8.25 percent on eligible items.

The quarter-cent tax has raised from $5.678 million in fiscal year 2012 to $11.143 million in FY 2015. This year, there are expectations the tax could raise anywhere from $7.5 million to $9 million. Sales tax revenues for the fiscal year are down by more than 20 percent.

Councilman Jeff Sparks had written in an op-ed article that he wanted to see the sports complex paid off in March, the earliest he said the debt could be paid off without an early payment penalty. Should the city wait until the end of the year, that could result in millions more being collected that would go into the city’s unappropriated fund balance. City officials said previously that the city could have $12 million left over in the 4B fund even after the sports complex is paid off.

The exact language of the tax that would appear on a referendum -- should the City Council approve the item -- has yet to be solidified as council members and other officials work on it. However, Morales said that language would center around a key feature of a “Tall City Tomorrow,” which is quality of Midland’s facilities.

“It would be used for maintenance and operation as well as capital expenditures for the sports complex, in addition to quality-of-place issues in Midland,” Morales said.

Sparks, in his op-ed, had called for 20 percent to be used for the operations and general maintenance of the Scharbauer Sports Complex and 20 percent for construction and maintenance of the city streets. The remaining 60 percent could be used to upgrade/construct Midland’s parks and recreation facilities.

In November of last year at the State of the Economy event, Morales mentioned the possibility of using a future 4B tax to transform Hogan Park into a multi-million-dollar soccer-softball-baseball complex. There have been few details on that plan, including whether the city would take out debt to pay for what would become the sports complex on Midland’s east side. Under the scenario, the city would then likely have to use 4B revenue to pay off the principal and interest payments.

Morales said the council chose May for an election as voters would likely be more concerned with this year’s presidential election in November.